Trump’s staff may be better taken care of than Obama’s

If the White House salary data released on Friday is accurate, President Trump’s staff may be better taken care of than Obama’s. According to the data, Madeleine Westerhout who serves as an executive assistant to Trump is paid an annual salary of $130,000. She received a 37 per cent pay raise this year from the $95,000 she was paid last year.

Madeline’s salary is higher than 2 of Obama’s executive assistants, even after taking inflation into account. Obama’s first executive assistant Katie Johnson made $90,000 in her second year of the job. Adjusted for inflation, the 27-year-old’s 2010 salary would be about $104,500.

Anita Decker Breckenridge, who was Obama’s executive assistant during his second term, made $95,000 during each of her two years in the White House. The 32-year-old’s 2012 salary would be worth just over $105,400 today.

Westerhout studied at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, receiving a BA degree in political science in 2013. On January 19, 2017, Donald Trump’s transition team announced that Westerhout would serve as special assistant and executive assistant to the President.

Before she became the President’s executive assistant, Westerhout was an assistant to Republican National Committee chief of staff Katie Walsh. She attracted media attention in 2016, when she was photographed escorting prominent individuals through Trump Tower.

Westerhout’s salary is not insignificant considering the data at Bureau of Labor Statistics which reported that in 2017, U.S. employees between the ages of 25 and 34 made an average of $773.50 weekly, or $40,222 annually.